The week has flown by as it's been a busy week of appointments for Job! I kept telling myself that, once we got through Thursday, things would slow down. But Monday it starts up again! Physical therapy, pediatrician well child, blood draw, early childhood intervention therapy and cardiology appointments... It takes lots and lots of people checking on Job to keep him healthy!
We were doing a very slow narcotic wean but, perhaps since he was also teething, we realized it wasn't slow enough. Taking a few days off from the wean was so nice! But we started back up yesterday and have about a week left.
Job's sats just aren't high enough. Still. Even on 1lpm of oxygen. He had a long cardiology appointment today, here in Tacoma, and everything that they can see by echo looks good. The thought continues to be that his low sats are pulmonary embolism or pulmonary lung bed related and will, hopefully, resolve with more time.
We have an appointment in Seattle on November 1st and, if his sats aren't improved by then, talks about a cardiac cath will begin.
Therapy and our subsequent practice sessions exhaust Job, but we'll keep working on his endurance! It's so exciting to watch him learn new skills. It's very hopeful to see progress day by day and week by week. I'm learning so much about how to help his little body learn to move!
He's doing a great job tracking our voices or toys and reaching out (even across his body!) for objects and he has great head and neck control. He loves sitting up on our laps, watching the world around him. As of this week he has been sitting in a bumbo (pictured) and his high chair, but working his core like that is particularly exhausting! He can roll to his side but until his sternal precautions are lifted next week we can't work on tummy time or putting any weight on his chest and arms. I'm excited for him to eventually learn to roll over! That might be his next milestone.
We reduced the fortification of Job's milk in the hospital, but even with fewer calories per bottle Job is gaining about 9 grams a day. Yay! We want to see that number a bit higher (15 grams!) as weight gain will help strengthen his body and lungs in particular (which ought to help his sats).
We're trying to relearn living together as a family and trying to catch up on the last five weeks of mostly-incomplete school work. It's a big adjustment! I think we're also trying to recover from the emotional exhaustion of what proved to be a rather traumatic hospital stay. And we're trying to avoid any and all cold and flu germs!!
We are all so happy to be together again. There has been an awful lot of baby snuggling this week.
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